


How To Plan a Theft in Two (Four) Easy Steps

by kitkatt0430



Series: Leonard Snart Appreciation Week 2020 [2]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Barry's never really named here, But Barry's definitely an important character here, Canon Compliant, Character Study, Gen, Len has to change his MO because of the Flash, in how his actions affect Len's decisions throughout the episode, it's cause of Barry, same with 'throw away the plan', the reason Len adds the steps 'expect plan to go off the rails'?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:48:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27861805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitkatt0430/pseuds/kitkatt0430
Summary: Leonard Snart had a very carefully crafted set of rules for theft.  Though essentially it boiled down to making the plan and then executing the plan.  After all, if he had the timing down to the very second and all scenarios covered, then nothing could go wrong.The Khandaq Dynasty diamond heist changes things.  The plan goes off the rails.  Len wasn't expecting that.
Relationships: Barry Allen & Leonard Snart
Series: Leonard Snart Appreciation Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2036638
Comments: 8
Kudos: 39





	How To Plan a Theft in Two (Four) Easy Steps

**Author's Note:**

> For Leonard Snart Appreciation Week - Favorite Quote
> 
> Admittedly my absolute favorite quote for Len is actually from Family of Rogues, but having covered that episode yesterday, I'm going with two different quotes instead. One from Len and one from Leo.
> 
> Len tells Barry "Make the plan. Execute the plan. Expect the plan to go off the rails. Throw away the plan." when helping save Iris. But when Barry relates this particular piece of Captain Cold wisdom to Leo Snart, Citizen Cold's response is "Wow. That is... that is terrible advice. I always have a plan, down to the second, so nothing ever goes wrong." Which sounds a lot like Len when we first encounter him in Going Rogue in Season 1 of the Flash.
> 
> When we first see Leonard Snart, he's conducting a heist with his crew with his timing down to the second. But that's something Len seems to shed as he slips into the role of Captain Cold. Instead of counting time cues he grows to thrive on emergence of those unpredictable variables and even enjoy the moment where he, inevitably, has to throw away the plan.

Leonard Snart's phases of a theft are simple.

  1. Make the plan
  2. Execute the plan



Admittedly those break down into far more difficult subcategories.

Making the plan can take weeks or even months of research. First he has to choose the item to steal.

Take for example his latest heist in the works. Len chose the Khandaq Diamond, which was on a limited tour of the United States before returning to the nation of Khandaq. It's passing through Central City, Len's home turf, and though many have tried to steal the diamond over the years, none have succeeded. If Len nabs it, he not only gets an extremely generous payout on the black market, but his reputation as a master thief would become unparalleled. 

But, of course, choosing a target was only the first step in making the plan.

Next Len had to stake out the museum, learn what the new security measures going into place would be, find out how the diamond would be brought into Central City for delivery at the museum, get the latest intel on police response times across the city... He has to put together a crew that suits the exact needs of his plan which means identifying what those needs will be.

Len settles on hitting the armored truck that will be bringing the diamond into the city. They're utilizing the Blackhawk Squad Protection Group to ferry the diamond from city to city. The company has a good reputation and decent armored vehicles. Driver, backup driver, and security. It's unlikely that Len could buy any of them off, though he looks into the possibility anyway.

Even without an inside man, the armored car delivery is the weakest point in the diamond's security while in Central City. Liquid nitrogen can get them through the armored truck's doors quickly. Incapacitate the guard, take the diamond, get out.

With the shape of the plan in mind, Len can start working on the timing of it. Create contingencies in case a patrol car takes an unexpected route that day and increased response times to the truck. He's got it all locked down and a crew in hand by the time the day of the diamond's arrival comes.

Which brought Len to phase number two. Executing the plan.

* * *

Everything is commencing perfectly according to plan. Until it isn't.

There's a blur of light and motion and the next thing Len knows, his plan is in tatters. He didn't account for this. How could he account for this? The rumors of the living streak of light were supposed to be the excuses of no talent hacks who didn't want to admit they'd screwed the pooch.

But the streak was real. The streak was a man. 

Len could work with that.

* * *

So the plan went off the rails, but that was an anomaly. Len needed more data on that blur, though. And something to give him an edge.

While it helps to know that the streak's weakness is other people, the guard never should have been shot in the first place. That makes the man who did it a liability and Len's always made it clear what happens to a liability on the job.

It makes the other two members of the crew uneasy, though. He suspects they're going to become liabilities as well, but Len hates to shoot someone prematurely.

He gets word of some interesting new weapons from STAR Labs, of all places. It's fitting, though. They were credited as being the source of the streak. Only fair they were the source of the streak's downfall too.

Len's always been smart. He knows that a person capable of moving at high speeds is going only going to have a handful of weakness at best. Abruptly removing, or at least massively reducing, the friction of the surface they were running on could sent them into a slide. Cold itself would force the streak to slow down. And frost bite from liquid nitrogen was a bitch, so a gun that induced instant sub-zero temperatures could probably kill the average human. The streak, of course, wasn't average by any means.

And those were just the weaknesses that the Cold Gun covered. The Heat Gun would cover burn injuries, a forced increase in energy output, and heat exhaustion. Pair the two guns together and the streak would be forced back and forth between two extremes.

Len can't afford the guns, though. Not at these prices. Well... not without a single-shot discount, anyway.

* * *

The theater is a successful test, though Len regrets the death of the usher. He'd honestly thought the streak would be fast enough to save the man.

Still, more data is good data. Len formulates a new plan. He has all the particulars now. It's not the masterpiece of planning he usually prefers, but this isn't really about the diamond anymore.

It's about the streak.

His crew doesn't understand that, though, and he gives them a chance to get out of there alive. They don't take it though. That makes them liabilities... and two more bodies to dispose of.

* * *

This time the plan goes flawlessly. Len has the timing down to the second, like always. The Streak arrives at the train station at the expected moment, finally giving Len a glimpse of half the man's face.

He's young. "I didn't see you before," Len says, words spoken before he could think better of them. "Your mom know you're out past your bedtime?" he mocks, covering for the slip.

The streak flinches; the remark hit closer to home than Len intended. Interesting.

"If you wanted to get away, you should've taken something faster than a train," the streak boasted. Cute, really.

"That's if I wanted to get away," Len corrected. "I've seen your weakness at the armored car and again at the theater. So... while you're busy saving everybody, I'll be saving myself. Good luck with that." And in the following moment, Len's next step of the plan goes off without a hitch.

The train derails.

Saving a train full of people saps the streak's energy. Leaves him vulnerable to Len's new gun.

This was fun, Len thinks. Shame he had to end things here. And that... that gives him a pause.

It's been too easy for a long time now. Just Len going through the motions. Make the plan, execute the plan, rinse, repeat. This was the first time that Len had to throw away a plan in a long while. The first time that things went so off the rails that he didn't have any choice but to throw away the plan. And then make a new one on the fly.

If he kills the streak now, then Len goes back to the too easy jobs, made all the easier with his new toy. If he lets the streak live... then his plans could go off the rails again. And that... that would be interesting.

The kid with the vacuum cleaner gives Len an excuse to walk away. "There's a first time for everything, Captain Cold." Gives him a name, too. So Len memorizes the kid's face. Just in case. He did claim to have created the Cold Gun, after all. That part might not be a lie.

"Hey! Leave the diamond."

Len rolled his eyes. "Don't push your luck."

* * *

By the time Len tracks down Mick to give him the Heat Gun, Len's officially updated his playbook, as it were.

  1. Make the plan
  2. Execute the plan
  3. Expect the plan to go off the rails
  4. Throw away the plan



And for the first time, in a long time, Len doesn't just feel challenged. He feels alive.


End file.
